If you decided recently that you’re no longer going to eat at Chick-Fil-A, then you might be looking for some other place to turn for delicious chicken.
Enter: Mya’s Fried Chicken.
Mark Tolentino recently launched a new food truck business that focuses exclusively on the fried variety of the popular poultry. We recently spoke with him to find out more about his new business and more importantly… where we can find his truck.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your restaurant background?
A: I love food. I grew up in a large family where all of us, aunts, uncles, cousins—dozens of us, regularly got together and had these huge family meals. I think I fell in love with food as a little boy watching my grandmother cook for our entire family. I’ve been cooking professionally in the restaurant and catering scene for the last 17 years in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Columbus. Most recently, I was the Executive banquet chef at Dock 580.
Q: So why fried chicken, and why a food truck?
A: Because I love fried chicken, and I think its delicious! I was looking around town for some great chicken and realized that its really hard to find real, authentic, southern fried chicken in Columbus – and that clicked for me. Fried chicken is one of those foods that people have opinions about, good and bad. For those who love it, we want to make the best they’ve ever had. For those who don’t, we want to make them believers. A food truck is the perfect way to get it out there. Food trucks are great for the small entrepreneur. By lowering the cost of entry so many more talented people are now able to do what they love and make great, wholesome food for their neighbors.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about the sourcing of your birds and what you believe makes the perfect fried chicken?
A: Our chicken comes only from Ohio farms and is processed right here in Clintonville. All the chicken is hormone free, antibiotic free and vegetable fed. It’s an all-natural product that is buttermilk brined and craft fried on the truck. We think the perfect fried chicken should be delicious inside and out, so we mastered a secret seasoning that goes in the brine and the dredging flour. This chicken stands on it’s own but we recommend the full Mya’s experience by having it drizzled with our herbed honey and/or spiced vinegar both of which are locally sourced.
Q: What sorts of side dishes will the truck offer?
A: All of the chicken comes with a homemade buttermilk biscuit that we bake every morning. The rest of our sides are also made from scratch every day. We serve smashed potatoes with gravy, macaroni and cheese, slow cooked green beans with bacon and onion, and creamy coleslaw.
Q: What location are you regularly set up at and what hours are you open?
A: We are located at 3166 N. High Street, at the corner of Pacemont and High. Our hours are Friday through Sunday Noon to 8pm.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: We just want to thank everyone who has helped get Mya’s off the ground, and we also really appreciate the all of the customers so far and hope to meet many more in the days to come. We never expected this kind of excitement about Mya’s so quickly and we are doing everything we can to keep up with the demand. You can like us on Facebook, but we prefer that you just like the chicken.
More information can be found online at www.myasfriedchicken.com.